this is bbc news, the headlines... the white house has been ordered to hand over documents relating to the impeachment investigation of president trump. the heads of the democratic—led inquiry committee said they sent a letter to the acting white house chief of staff demanding evidence related to allegations that trump pressured ukraine for political favours. thousands of protestors in hong kong have defied a ban on face masks and held rallies demanding political reforms. earlier, police fired tear gas at protesters who'd attacked buildings, including chinese banks. the territory's entire metro network was shut down — the first time since the unrest began four months ago. prince harry has begun legal action against the publishers of two newspapers for alleged phone—hacking. this comes just days after his wife, meghan, announced she was suing another newspaper for publishing one of her letters. now on bbc news,

our world. it's 30 years since the iron curtain fell. for millions across europe, it meant freedom. for moscow, it meant the end of its empire. today's russia wants to forget about 1989. but three decades on, russia is reasserting itself. there are fears of a new stand—off with the west. the baltic has become one of the front lines of what feels like a new cold war. as russia pushes for greater influence, i ask its leader

how he sees his country. i am on a journey that will take me back to 1989 and across europe, to find out what it was like for moscow to lose an empire, and whether russia is building a new one. moscow, it is a city that oozes empire. from the skyscrapers ofjoseph stalin, to the residents of the czars. residence of the czars. the message is unmistakable,

this is a country with ambition. throughout its history, russia has had an unswerving belief in its own greatness. you can feel that inside the kremlin. this is stunning. look at this. this says power, omnipotence, this says empire. russia was built as an empire, russia has existed as an empire, because the essence is we are great, we have to have areas of influence, and we have to have buffer states between ourselves and the outside world. so this is an empire. but in 1989, the buffer

states broke free. and with it, moscow's domination of eastern europe. what had come to be known as the soviet empire was tearing at the seams. viewed from moscow, these events were earth—shattering. in 1989, i was a student in moscow, i was studying russian here, and i can remember that every night i would sit down to watch the television news and what i saw, what millions of viewers here saw was truly remarkable. the soviet empire falling apart, piece by piece.

across eastern europe, you could find pieces of the lost empire. this is wunstorf in the former east germany. it was the red army's largest military base outside the soviet union. there is something ghostly about the soviet legacy. the scale of the soviet military presence in east germany was staggering. there were 800 garrisons here and half a million soviet troops. but then again, for moscow, this was its key outpost in europe.

the wunstorf base feels suspended in time. communist russia was convinced its ideas, its ideology, would bind east germany to moscow forever. but it was wrong. when the berlin wall fell, everything changed. within a year, east and west germany had reunited. the red army had been here since defeating the nazis. now moscow agreed to withdraw its troops.

this man was the commander. he is back from moscow, for an official event commemorating russia's withdrawal. the general tells me he was the last russian soldier to leave germany. it would take moscow four years

to bring all its troops home. but to what kind of a country were they coming back? the soviet union had gone, russia was struggling. here in this region, the returning soldiers were low priority. this man had been a tank commander in east germany. when he came home there were no facilities, no proper accommodation, it was almost as if he had been forgotten.

you know, i think that in many ways, his story encapsulates what happened to his country after 1989. the soviet union, this giant superpower suddenly found itself dumped on the sidelines of history. and, as a result, russia felt abandoned, it felt lost, and it felt humiliated.

perhaps if the end of the cold war had brought instant prosperity to people here, then maybe this loss of status, this loss of empire would have been easier to swallow. but it didn't. the 1990s brought economic chaos and widespread poverty. so what you had here, in effect, was a fertile soil for any strongman promising to make russia great again. enter vladimir putin. russia's president is trying to erase the memory of his country's humiliation. to restore its power, its influence.

but modern russia isn't reinventing the soviet union, its methods are different. these people in the kremlin do understand that idea of restoration of the former superpower is impossible. but they have other ideas, and their idea is to be a blackmailer, to be a producer of mischief, to be the grand spoiler in the world, to be the nightmare for the neighbours and for the outside countries. so this is the new idea of superpower and empire. it is an idea that russia has put into practice close to home. in 2014, masked soldiers in unmarked uniforms seized control of a ukrainian peninsula, crimea. they acquired the nickname of the little green men. but they were russian

special forces sent in by president putin after ukraine's pro—western revolution. at a referendum, voters backed joining russia. but the poll wasn't internationally recognised. it had taken moscow less than one month to occupy and annex a piece of its neighbour. for many russians, this was cause for celebration. i first met this lady in moscow back in the early 1990s. she has a second home now — in crimea. the crimean history has always been connected with russia. in the west, as you know, there is a lot of criticism of vladimir putin for what happened here, for russia taking crimea. i am very grateful to mr putin, and i take my hat off and bow my head to mr putin, because he saved the generations of the crimea people from rivers of blood here.

in the crimean city of sevastopol, they are marking russian navy day. it is a showcase for russian power at sea. since it took crimea, russia has become the dominant force in the black sea region. here, moscow doesn't use the word annexation. crimea, it says, has sailed back to its home port. few believe that outside of russia. what we see is a pattern

of behaviour where russia is responsible for aggressive actions against neighbours. that reflects that the main problem of russia is that they still believe in the idea of spheres of influence. in response, nato has bolstered its forces near russia's borders. from estonia's amari airbase, nato jets are regularly scrambled. their main task is to intercept russian planes approaching estonian air space, which fail to identify themselves. russia denies it is a threat to estonia or to any of the baltic states. but nato is on alert and taking no chances. the baltic has become one of the front—lines of what feels like a new cold war between russia

and the west. to moscow, the presence of nato troops near its border is a direct threat to russia's national security. but nato insists that all of this is purely defensive, and the reaction to an increasingly assertive and aggressive russia. 0ne complaint i often hear from russian officials is that, 30 years ago, a promise was made by the west to moscow that nato would not enlarge and move closer to russia's borders. and russia says the west deceived moscow. first of all, no such promise was made. but second, just the idea that washington or a big western allies should promise that to moscow is an idea based on a totally wrong assumption that big countries can promise something on behalf

of small countries. russia's new assertiveness extends beyond its military. vladimir putin's kremlin has a range of tools for exerting influence. there is an attempt to distort reality with fake news. to so doubt, confusion. russia's objective to discredit a european democracy on its border. and here is one example of what appears to be russian disinformation. this website is aimed at ethnic russians across the

baltic but it is part of a news organisation that is bankrolled by the kremlin. what kind of stories does it put out? well here is one. listen to this. among latvians it says, adolf hitler is more popular than harry potter. his book mine can't tops the reader's ductless. so the impression that you get when you read this is that in latvia, in an eu country, nazi ideology is thriving. sounds incredible. but it is fake. in latvian libraries, it has only been requested 139 times in three years. compare that to 25,000 requests for harry potter. and you won't find hitler's book in the shops here. it has not been published in latvia for over 20 yea rs. published in latvia for over 20 years. i tracked down the key link

to the hitler story, it is rita. she i’u ns to the hitler story, it is rita. she runs a second—hand book website in latvia. bolt had based its report on data from her web page. the book is available through her site and users do appear to be clicking on it but who exactly? 50 it do appear to be clicking on it but who exactly? so it is interesting that about 70% of all clicks are anonymous. and if we compare it with the other most popular books like harry potter, 70% are registered users. so if most of the clicks for mein kampfare users. so if most of the clicks for mein kampf are anonymous, what does that mean? they could be fake views. fake views to make fake news? yeah, definitely. i think the fundamental

aim of the russian operation is to undermine the other countries. russia cannot tolerate the success of the baltics that have embraced freedoms and values of the west and can be successful. a good example is very dangerous so can be successful. a good example is very dangerous so you should taint it. if russia has become the grand spoiler, can it be, does it still wa nt to spoiler, can it be, does it still want to be a superpower? this is my chance to ask the president. vladimir putin hasjust chance to ask the president. vladimir putin has just finished an event near the kremlin. it is a rare opportunity to get up close to the kremlin leader.

but moscow is looking for ways back into eastern europe and for some russia's return is welcome. viktor 0rban. he is the prime minister of hungary. and moscow's best friend in europe. he praises vladimir putin, he criticises eu sanctions on russia

thatis he criticises eu sanctions on russia that is partly because he and putin have two things limit one thing in common. both are suspicious of western liberalism. for russia, this meeting of minds presents opportunities. this man is an ex soviet diplomat with connections at the heart of russian government. he heads the soviet era development bank that has just relocated from moscow to budapest. for russia, it isa moscow to budapest. for russia, it is a foothold in europe. the bank is totally apolitical. we never do anything politically motivated. five eu countries are members but russia is by far the largest shareholder. and until recently, the bank was listed as an official organ of the russian state. critics of your bank

call it vladimir putin's trojan horse or the kgb bank. in other words, the suspicion is...|j horse or the kgb bank. in other words, the suspicion is... i am a spy words, the suspicion is... i am a spy they also say. the suspicion is is it is tool of moscow to bread spies and agents across europe. is there any truth in that? absolutely not. it is all allegations and even though they repeated hundreds of times, they have nothing to do with the reality. can you understand where the suspicion comes from? because, apologies for getting personal, but you yourself are from afamily of personal, but you yourself are from a family of soviet spies. your father was the head of the kgb. in budapest, yes. that is how i like the city many years ago. and your mother was a soviet agent. that is

an exaggeration. my mother, yes, she worked in the first department of the kgb but she retired in 1953, steve. in different ways, russia is trying to restore its influence. for moscow, the real lesson of 1989 is wea kness moscow, the real lesson of 1989 is weakness costs power. today's russia wants to forget about 1989. it was, yes, an amazing period but it was the period of backtracking, surrender, defeat. now, russia seeks victories. i think that whatever label you give russia, global player 01’ label you give russia, global player or superpower label you give russia, global player or superpower or label you give russia, global player or superpower or empire, what i see isa or superpower or empire, what i see is a country with a cast—iron conviction that it is great and that great powers must have influence.

hello, as one weather system clears, another comes in from the atlantic. it doesn'tjust sum up the weekend weather across the uk, but pretty much the next seven to ten days out there. here is the next weather system coming in. as we go on through saturday into sunday, here is the next one that will come in on monday. so more rain to come this weekend, not a wash—out though. there will be some drier, brighter skies either side of an area of rain that will be quite heavy at times as it spreads its way eastwards. now, this is how we start on saturday morning, quite chilly across the eastern side of the uk where we have had clear skies overnight. there may be a touch of frost in the coldest parts of north—east scotland, and where it has been clear, there could be some mist and fog patches, perhaps dense in a few spots, gradually clearing

during the morning. any early sunny spells in the east replaced with increasing cloud as that weather system comes in from the atlantic, initially some quite light rain further east but notice how there is some heavier rain coming in toward western parts as we go on through the afternoon. here is a look at things at apm, you can pick out a temperature near you, the wind speeds as well. there will be a strengthening south—easterly wind. you will also see that the far north—east of scotland is still dry, still some sunny spells around into the northern isles, but a wetter picture through northern ireland, much of western scotland and some outbreaks of rain with some heavier bursts into western parts of england and wales. and again some patchy rain feeding east ahead of that with thickening cloud. and that rain will get heavier still as we go on through saturday night and into sunday. in fact, some brighter colours showing up on the rainfall forecast here. so there will be some reasonably high rain totals going into sunday as that turns more widespread, slowly pushing further east on what will be a mild night going into sunday morning.

so the big picture then for part two of the weekend shows that frontal system with the rain, heavy at times, right across us and in no hurry to clear away eastwards on sunday. although behind it where it does clear, a little ridge of high pressure briefly coming in, before that next system as it turns wet and windy again on monday. this is how sunday is looking, and the yellow triangles indicating where the met office has yellow warnings for rain. parts of scotland, the eastern side of england. there could be 15 to 30 millimetres, maybe a bit more in the wet spots, the risk of some flooding and some travel disruption in a few places. and this weather system just easing a bit on through sunday afternoon but still giving outbreaks of rain here. most likely to break out into brighter skies on sunday in northern ireland, wales, and south west england. now, i mentioned that next weather system coming in on monday, there will be more to come next week. it will often be windy, wet at times. not all the time, there will be some occasional sunshine as well, but basically autumn — full throttle.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: president under pressure — democrats issue a legal demand to the white house for documents relating to an impeachment inquiry. hundreds of protesters join unofficial rallies in hong kong, defying a government ban on face masks. prince harry launches legal action against the owners of two british newspapers over alleged phone hacking. and the revolutionary technology that's allowed a paralysed man to move again.